Marginal Christianity

http://www.missioalliance.org/4-questions-to-ask-before-joining-a-church/     What do you think? The long-standing effects of a Christendom-shaped imagination incline us to misunderstand the nature and purpose of the Church. It continues to influence the way we view leadership, mission, and evangelism. It can even shape the questions we ask when we find ourselves in the position of seeking out a church community to belong to. One example of this can be seen in a current post on The Gospel Coalition website . The article presented four questions to consider before joining a local congregation. I understand the limitations on fully articulating a position via a blog post. Further, I realize the author limited himself to just four questions. I would assume, if given more time, there would be additional questions to consider. However, recognizing the limitations, I still found the post to be woefully inadequate. I believe the essence of each of the four questions highli...

http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/?p=4335&utm_content=bufferaf3b3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Posted on March 12, 2014 by David Fitch — 5 Comments ↓ Yesterday morning I posted on Twitter (@fitchest) : The local church doesn’t demand sanctification upon joining. It requires commitment to the communal processes of sanctification upon joining To me this is worth thinking about because it gets at the conundrum missional communities face when we start to think about membership within a decidedly post-Christendom culture where those who seek to commit to us have little formation in the Christian life. How do we discern membership? What requirements (encouragements) are necessary to make joining a body possible? To even make a social body of Christ a reality? Many churches have tossed out the whole idea of membership out. Church becomes in essence a consumer activity, people coming and going to...